A Ride with a Moth
by RebornBlood
Summary: A little something I made in Composition about the Mothman.


Austin Holweger Holweger

Mrs. Nakagawa Comp T3 B4

Jan 17, 2012

Transportation Story (Fiction)

A Ride with a Moth

My eyes fluttered open. My head was killing me. What happened? The last thing I remembered was walking home from a late night at work, it was well past midnight and since my home was close by, I simply walked instead of taking my car. But work had kept me extremely late today; I normally get home around eight sometimes, nine if I fall behind in my assignments. My feet were dragging against the sidewalk; I was nearly home, only another block, then all of my memory either goes completely blank or is too fuzzy to make out, I seem to remember feeling my feet leaving the ground though…

My headache wasn't leaving and the fact that the ground was shaking every which way wasn't helping me at all. Wait, the ground was shaking? My eyes snapped open fully and they darted around searching for anything I could possibly recognize. I saw nothing but this muddled gray all around me I looked down and saw a wooden wheel attached to whatever cart I was riding in turning against a shifting black mass that didn't look like it was solid in anyway.

"Enjoying the ride?" a husky voice asked. I spun around to come face-to-face with what I first confused for a giant of a man, easily nine, maybe even ten feet tall. I quickly noticed that he was the furthest thing from a man.

The thing sitting next to me had a massive chest that was covered in hair all over, and not just the front, oh no, it's sides and back were covered in the exact same way. It had two pairs of arms and a set of legs-six limbs in total—all thin and wiry and covered in small hairs. Between its legs dangled some mass of its body that was covered in some kind of thin shell casing. Its head was all bug-like and had almost feather-like antennae on top of its head. Its insectoid wings were flayed out and pressed against the back of the seat we shared.

I felt my blood run cold once I laid eyes on it. I nearly threw myself over the side and into the seemingly unending grey expanse that surrounded us.

"Now, don't go doing anything you might regret." The creature said, "Tak'linen'ah hates it when his passengers leave his rickshaw before reaching their destination."

A _rickshaw_? I'm riding in a _rickshaw_? I looked to the front to see what I could only surmise was a werewolf pulling us forward in this twilight zone. The werewolf turned to me and tipped his bowler hat at me.

"Please keep all appendages inside the rickshaw at all times, sir." the werewolf growled, ""It is best if we can avoid all forms of injury… it helps me get paid a lot better, I'm on a real roll this month, not one passenger injured or lost to the ether. You're my last one this month, so stay inside the rickshaw, if you would."

"W-what do you want with me…?" I whispered.

"Simply to get you to your destination." The werewolf replied.

"He's telling the truth," the turned to bug-man next to me, "we're both simply heading in the same direction, friend."

"W-who are you?" I stammered.

"Who am I?" the bug-man seemed to chuckle, nothing more than a series of clicks from its mouth, the only part that looked more human than anything else.

"My true name is of no importance to you mortals, but you seem to have taken to calling me 'The Mothman'. It's fitting, I suppose, given my appearance." The Mothman grinned at me, rows of sharp teeth glinted in what little light there was here.

"How…" I swallowed, "how did I get here?"

"How does anyone get here?" Mothman asked aloud, "By sheer chance and horrible luck. I was going to be flying around a building that was going to be bombed tonight, next thing I know I'm here."

"Why were you going to be flying around something that was going to be blown up?" I stopped suddenly, "Wait! There's going to be a bombing?"

"Indeed. I tried warning you mortals at first about bad things, but do you ever listen to me? Noooo! You run and scream at the sight of me! So now I simply fly about places where bad things are going to happen and be a symbol to those who see me as a harbinger of destruction or terrible events."

The Mothman huffed and crossed his four arms over his chest. I really had no idea what I could say to any of that.

"Uhh… sorry?" I said lamely.

"Bah! It's not like any mortal can really understand the machinations of our world, whether we serve the Devil, God, or simply ourselves. It's far too complex for your underdeveloped minds." I shifted uncomfortably as Mothman continued to rant on about the something called the Other World and Earth, it was fascinating listening to him actually; of course, I couldn't say anything without other people thinking me absolutely mad and throwing me into a padded cell.

"Excuse me, mortal," my attention was torn from Mothman to the werewolf pulling the rickshaw, "It's your destination, have a nice day."

I was suddenly pulled from seat thrown out into the grey expanse that surrounded us, everything went fuzzy after that, but I'm sure that I heard The Mothman call out, "Look for me on the news! That bombing will be all over it! I'll fly around the gargoyles!"

My eyes snapped open and I sat up with a jolt. I was in my home. I was in my room. And I was in my nice warm bed. Was all that just a dream?

"Tom!" I heard my wife call from downstairs, "Tom, come quick! There's been a bombing at your work!"

The moment Hannah mention a the words 'bombing' and 'your work' I raced downstairs to see the TV on with a live news broadcasting with the top few floors of my work building on fire and smoking, I looked at the time, it was only 3 AM, my eyes darted back to screen and looked around the top of my building where gargoyles statues hung about on each corner. For a few moments I thought I saw something fly by one of the gargoyles before darting behind the building where I couldn't see it.

'_Mothman...'_ I thought.


End file.
